Friday, October 18, 2013

Dumb logic and the Denver Broncos

I'm a fan of the Denver Broncos, and generally, I'm a fan of NFL writer Gregg Rosenthal — seems like an astute dude. I like to follow him on Twitter; you can too. But I can't say his column today, on why the Broncos will probably lose to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night, is doing much for me.

Now, I have no idea if Peyton Manning and Co. will stay undefeated, but it won't be arguments like his that convince me. (Especially considering he begins it by saying that the Broncos, or anybody I guess, won't go undefeated because they have to lose ... even though two teams have, uh, sort of answered that one already.)

So, the Colts have the 11th-ranked defense, by yards-per-game. Not bad. Two spots later, though, are the Raiders, who Denver beat handily a month ago. Of course, it was only by 16 points, and we all read contention one, so ...

Contention four: The Broncos' defense has been "a mediocre group this year, overall."

Considering that, right before that sentence, Rosenthal wrote, "Yes, the Broncos' defense is different with Von Miller (and Champ Bailey) back in the lineup" I'm not sure this one needs rebuttal. But I guess, if you were being nitpicky, you could throw linebacker Wesley Woodyard and defense end Robert Ayers on to that list of players back at full strength.

Contention five: This one is actually just gibberish, but here you go: "Football is a sport for the young. Manning is doing incredible things at age 37. He's the best quarterback in the league, and the Broncos are the best team overall."

Yes, all those sentences were in that exact order.

So, to recap, here's why the Broncos will lose: They won their last two (plus four) games; the Colts have also won games; the Broncos haven't seen a decent defense, except when they have; the Broncos defense is bad, except that same defense isn't playing this Sunday; and there are players in the NFL younger than Peyton Manning, plus going undefeated is hard.